


Everybody Needs Love

by entiegon



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Angst and Romance, Bad Days, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, F/M, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, Minor Self Harm, Pranks, Two Shot, anger issues, day of mourning, general Camp Half-Blood life, songs getting stuck in your head
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:48:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23734123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/entiegon/pseuds/entiegon
Summary: Bad days happen to everyone, even demigods. But, as Andi Prince and Griffin Lowe find out, everything always gets worse before they get better. From hated songs getting stuck in your head to pranks on a day of mourning, this pair get it all. Join the two of them as they discover that everybody needs to be loved... especially in the darkest of times.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Clarisse La Rue/Chris Rodriguez, Nico di Angelo/Thalia Grace, Nyssa Barrera/Will Solace, OC/OC





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> The original idea for this was to have a one-shot based around ABBA's song 'People Need Love'. But, back on FanFiction.net, I had to make changes to the original one-shot. This turned it into a two-shot and thus what you will see. Also, please note that this was written before Nico came out as being gay. Hope you enjoy these.

Andi Prince walked out of the Apollo Cabin in a particularly bad mood that morning. Well, she more like stormed out of her cabin and down to the Hermes Cabin where she was sure that her kunai knives were. She had gone in to get them, along with her pair of sickle and chains, for her next class in the arena and found the small ninja weapons missing. And someone was going to pay for taking her weapons.

“ Okay! Who took them!?” She yelled, slamming the door to the Hermes Cabin open.

The Hermes kids, minus the two infamous Stoll brothers, stopped whatever mischief they had been planning and looked at the visitor. At the sight of the furious red-headed daughter of Apollo, they all cowered in fear. But Griffin Lowe, one of the more mischievous boys after Travis and Connor, had a crooked grin on his face.

“ Where are they?!” Andi demanded, storming up to the son of Hermes.

“ I thought you would have checked the Armoury. Didn’t you say that you were getting them cleaned?” He replied, his voice breaking ever so slightly in fear.

“ I polish them myself, idiot! Now pass them!”

Reluctantly, Griffin passed over the six bronze kunai knives. But it was mainly out of fear of the smaller and younger demigod. With a satisfied smile, Andi took back her weapons and placed them in the pouch on her leg. Everyone in the cabin seemed to hold their breath as the daughter of Apollo turned around, Griffin praying to his father that he had been lucky enough to escape the wraith of the easily angered daughter of the sun god. He had no such luck. As quick as lightning, she spun around and broke his nose with a satisfying crunch. Then she continued her way out of the cabin.

But it was as she was leaving the cabin that her mother’s favourite song entered her mind. Why? She did not know. All she knew was that getting a random song stuck in her head was one of her more common ADHD moments. And, being a child of Apollo, it was extremely hard to get that song out of her mind once it was in there. Especially if it was one of her mother’s favourite songs. Even more so if it was that song.

She tried to ignore it. That wasn’t much help. She tried thinking about other songs. Her mother’s song was too powerful to be over-ridden. Then she looked up and noticed the chaos that was around her and she realised just how ironic the song actually was. She had no choice but to give in to it as her mind began thinking about what this could possibly mean. Nor did she realise how messed up her day was going to be.

It went something like this…

First, over at the Demeter cabin, Katie Gardner and her sister Miranda were reprimanding the Stolls for their latest prank. From how loud the girls were yelling, and the purple colour of their faces, Andi could easily tell that the boys had gone and sprayed the Demeter plants with herbicide again. There may have even been more damage done to the inside of the cabin than just spraying herbicide on the plants, but no one was completely sure at this point in time. And by the looks on the boys’ faces, and the failed attempt to talk to them, they were failing at calming them and flirting with them. Basically, it was another ordinary day in the lives of the Stoll brothers and the Demeter cabin.

Andi decided to take the long way to the arena, making sure she went past the back of the cabins so as to find out what had made Miranda mad let alone Katie. It turned out she wasn’t the only one. There were about five other Apollo campers still behind the Demeter cabin listening in. And, of course, the Aphrodite cabin had some of its ‘Romance Paparazzi’ behind there as well. The rest of the camp that was around the area were either doing a U-turn around the cabins or else taking the long way like her. It was clear that by the end of the night, _everyone_ in camp would know _everything_ that had happened… plus some add-ons if the Aphrodite cabin had their way.

“ Why’s Miranda involved?” Andi asked one of the Demeter boys that had just given up on trying to clear the back of his cabin of campers.

“ Connor glued about twenty-eight sets of Lego wheels to the bottom of her slippers and hung up a snake skin above her head, last night. Where he got that stuff from, I have no idea. Most of us were just glad she knows how to roller-stake.” The boy, 16 year old Thomas Patterson, replied with an Australian accent.

“ So that’s who it was.”

“ Yeah. I swear he nearly gave her a heart attack.”

“ And us while he was at it.” A Hecate camper added, overhearing the short conversation.

The events that followed that little scene included the Hunters of Artemis (who were in camp for the week) and sons of Hephaestus Leo Valdez and Jake Mason, and her brother and his boyfriend (who were down in the strawberry fields). All she could gather as she passed both events was that the Hunters were arguing with the Hephaestus boys about fixing something important to them and that Jasper was soon to be single again.

When Andi finally got to the Arena, she found her brother Will Solace having ‘girl problems’. It was actually quite funny to watch. Nyssa from Hephaestus was yelling at Will like they had been together all their lives. And to think, it was over something trivial like how unkempt his appearance was and started by her asking him for some kind of supplies that Apollo cabin were keeping away from the Hephaestus boys for them. Mariah Estengat, Nyssa’s little sister and one of Andi’s friends, was standing next to her and watching the scene with an amused expression on her face.

“ Let me guess. It’s that time of month again?” Andi asked, nudging the thirteen year old gently in the shoulder.

“ Yep.” Mariah replied in a heavy Spanish accent.

“ Oh, I feel sorry for Will.”

“ Why?”

“ The last time this happened, the happy couple over there refused to speak for a month. The only thing that got them talking again was little Sally Fredricks from Aphrodite Cabin.”

“ What happened?”

“ She thought that they were acting like an old married couple and kept asking the Apollo and Hephaestus cabins if Mr and Mrs Solace were still in love with each other or if they were going to divorce each other. She was too innocent for her own good. The Hermes Cabin fixed that, though. Pity.”

With that, the two girls began laughing, not even being able to stop when Will and Nyssa turned to glare at them. So far, aside from the thieving incident with Griffin Lowe, the day seemed to be going okay for the daughter of Apollo. Her mother’s song had even given way for the precious memory. Unfortunately, that slight peace in the day did not last very long. Halfway through her match against one of the other Hephaestus kids the song returned with a vengeance and caused her to lose the match.

She was not pleased.

After practice in the arena was over, the lunch horn was sounded and people began making their way to the dining pavilion. And all the way there, Andi was desperately trying to get her mother’s favourite song out of her head. It didn’t help that she noticed Pollux from Dionysus Cabin looking particularly upset over something. But she also noticed the dark look in his eyes when he noticed her going over to make sure that he was okay, so she knew not to further agitate him. Children of Dionysus, let alone the camp director himself, were scary when they were angry or upset. Unfortunately Mariah, who had only been at camp for a couple of weeks and so didn’t know the tricks and trades as well as Andi did, went to see if everything was okay before the daughter of Apollo could stop her.

“ Leave me alone.” Pollux growled quietly before either of the two girls could say anything.

“ Let’s do what he says.” Andi suggested, trying to get Mariah into the dining pavilion before anyone or anything got hurt.

“ I just wanted to know if everything was okay.” Mariah said, ignoring her friend.

“ I’ll be fine if you leave me alone.” The son of Dionysus replied a little louder than before.

“ Okay, Pollux. I think everyone’s having a bad day today. Let’s just try and calm down for now.” Andi said soothingly, trying to avoid any arguments before they started.

“ I don’t care what you think, Andrea-”

“ Don’t call me that!” Instantly Andi’s soothing tone was changed into a deep growl, fires practically burning in her eyes.

If there was one thing that she absolutely hated, it was people calling her by her first name. It reminded her too much of her grandmother and what had happened that fateful night. And Mariah ended up trying to prevent someone’s death. Namely Pollux’s. The only good thing that happened during that confrontation was that Will, Nyssa and, surprisingly, the Stoll brothers had seen what was going on and had rushed to separate the two before blood was shed. By the time they managed to get the two agitated demigods away from each other, Andi was screaming her head off and being dragged into the pavilion by her brother and his girlfriend, Mariah following close behind them.

No one questioned anything as the entire camp watched Will and Nyssa drag Andi into the pavilion and over to the Apollo table. Not even Chiron dared to interfere this early into the ordeal. The daughter of Apollo was still too worked up for anyone to get her to stop screaming and cursing. He did, however, call Mariah over and asked her what had happened.

Pollux soon entered the pavilion with Travis and Connor flanking his sides like security guards and watching Andi closely to make sure that she didn’t do a flying leap from her table and tackle the son of Dionysus to the ground with one of her kunai knives in hand and in front of his father. And it didn’t take long for everyone to realize that Mr. D was closely watching the daughter of Apollo for such an attack at his son. It just proved that he had some sort of heart… even if it was only for his children.

Thankfully, Andi had already made her sacrifice to her father and was seated once more at the Apollo table…with every one of her brothers and sisters watching her every move. It was slightly unnerving to see her murderously stabbing at her fish with her knife, though. And there was more than one person in the silent pavilion (mainly those who were new to camp) who was wondering what exactly Pollux had done to her. Needless to say Andi was imagining her poor piece of fish to be both the son of Dionysus and her grandmother. At that point in time, she hated the both of them even more so than she hated Griffin Lowe from his thieving heist that morning.

“ Um… Andi…?” Gary Rodgers asked uncertainly as he watched the already dead fish getting massacred, fearing for his own life.

“ It’s best just to leave her at the moment.” Will advised the 10 year old.

“ I just wanted to say that I think the fish is dead.”

“ I know, man. But I think we should all just let her cool down for a little bit.”

“ Did Pollux say it?” Kayla asked.

“ Yeah.”

Griffin Lowe must have only just found out what had happened himself because the pavilion was instantly filled with his voice. “ Great! She’s on a murderous rampage. That’s all I need!”

“ You will silence your trap, Lowe, or I swear I will come over there and make you hurt far worse than just a broken nose!” Andi snapped almost instantly.

* * *

Lunch, though scary for pretty much everyone else, seemed to go quite quickly for Andi. Maybe it was the fact that she was determined to kill the already dead fish on her plate. Maybe it was because people tended to leave her alone. Or maybe it was because, after completely destroying the fish, she finally realised how hungry she was and before she knew it there was nothing left on her plate. She just didn’t know.

Unfortunately, her anger had not been entirely sedated by the fish. And that meant that, when Chiron called both her and Pollux over to him to figure out what had happened, Pollux got some fine choice words aimed at him by Andi and Chiron was growled at (though not too unkindly like the son of Dionysus). Needless to say, for that kind of language, Andi had been put on kitchen duty with Pollux for the rest of the week.

Once Chiron had dismissed the two, Andi went back to her cabin where Will was waiting to lead them up to the infirmary for care duty. There was usually two children of Apollo who took care of the various things that happened in the infirmary who usually took turns with the rest of their cabin, but it was on the Apollo campers’ daily routines that the entire cabin perform its duties for an hour there. However something seem suspicious to her. When she reached her cabin, she found her siblings looking from their cabin to the Hermes cabin with murderous glares. And evil smirks graced Kayla and Austin’s faces when they noticed their younger sister coming.

“ What are you standing out here for?” Andi asked as she got closer.

“ Well… you’re not going to like this, but…” One of her older brothers, Richard Bowman, stuttered, scratching at his light brown hair awkwardly.

“ But… what, Robin?”

“ See for yourself.”

Slowly, Andi turned to look through the open door of her cabin. Considering the outside had barely been touched, she was pretty sure the Stolls were not behind the deed. They were probably still getting yelled at by Katie and Miranda when it happened. But one thing was for sure. Whoever had done it was definitely going to pay. And she had a pretty good guess as to who it had been.

She swept her eyes over the inside of her cabin once more. The entire place was black as night. It could possibly rival the Hades cabin in darkness. How they managed it in such a short time, no one knew. But that wasn’t all. Aside from the fact that everyone’s possessions (except Jason’s and Alison’s things) were all over the place and otherwise mixed up, everyone’s bows and arrows were painted silver and were obviously made out of or sprayed with something that turned them into rubber. To a trained archer, those arrow feathers definitely looked fake. And the problem was that wasn’t the worst of it.

Every piece of clothing that the boys owned (except Jason’s) had been replaced with bright pink, frilly dresses and miniskirts and bright pink Dora the Explorer t-shirts. There were even a few tutus thrown in there as well. Someone had already made the mistake of swapping one of Jason’s favourite blue shirts with a pink men’s shirt and he was already in the cabin, ripping it for all he was worth. He didn’t like the colour pink… at all. And being autistic, he took things to the extreme. Whoever’s top that belonged too was going to have to get a new one.

The girls didn’t suffer that badly, thankfully. They just had slime covered all over their beds. The only exception this time was Alison’s bed. Even Apollo the guide dog’s bed had been spared, though that was probably because Chiron had threatened every single Hermes camper with kitchen duty after each meal and stable duty and toilet duty for three months if the dog or any of his things were touched. And no one wanted to do toilet duty.

But whoever it was had left a calling card… a small speck of blood on the once clean and pressed pillow case on Andi’s bed sitting next to a blood red rose. Andi turned around and stalked over to the Hermes cabin for the second time that day. That boy was going to be in some serious trouble when she got through with him. And her siblings were beginning to wonder if they were going to be hearing a death notice from the Hermes cabin soon or not.

“ Well, at least we know one thing.” Alison said as the others watched their sister leave.

“ What’s that?” Kayla asked.

“ Whoever did this obviously has a soft spot for Andi.”

“ Either that or they just don’t realise that you should never get Andi angry.” Will sighed, causing a few smiles.

Those were the words that Andi only just managed to catch as she stormed over to the Hermes cabin for the second time that day. And, to be honest, they only made her angrier. Anyone walking between her and the Hermes cabin instantly backed up from her to let her pass so that they didn’t get hurt themselves. Even some of Ares kids backed up (though they had smirks on their faces which usually meant that they sensed a fight about to happen). By the time Andi reached her destination, she was stone faced. She didn’t even bother to pound on the door this time. She just went straight to the yelling.

“ If you think you can go about pranking my cabin, you’ve got another thing coming, Lowe! Get your sorry hide out here now!” Andi screamed from outside the Hermes cabin door.

“ Dude, you really shouldn’t have done it.” Someone on the other side of the door whispered.

“ You should have just left the Apollo cabin to us.” A similar sounding voice added.

“ Like you two could do any better!” Griffin’s voice retaliated.

As far as Andi could tell, the Stoll brothers and Griffin were the only ones in their cabin. The others were down at the forest edge racing each other to see who was the fastest out of the cabin. Meanwhile, possibly the three most troublesome sons of Hermes were sitting in their cabin having a nice little argument over who should have prank rights to the Apollo cabin. In other words, they were ditching lessons, which really isn’t unexpected from any member of the Hermes Cabin. They’ve all been known to do it.

“ We are the pros at pranking. Of course we could do better!” That voice, Andi was sure, had to belong to Travis. She had heard him that many times arguing with Katie she was beginning to learn the tiniest differences between the brothers’ voices.

“ Well, if you could do better, why did you end up in the infirmary after Andi threw her bow at you and knocked you unconscious?” Griffin retaliated.

Okay, so the voice had been Connor’s. But Andi was still learning, so she blamed it on that. Either way the arguing was getting pretty intense. And Andi was getting angrier. Pretty soon she ended up barging through the door (and the chairs and the stack of boxes and the… whatever it was that were behind it), scaring the living daylights out of the three boys. And all three of them cowered before her even though it was only Griffin that she wanted.

“ First of all, I want to know what you two are doing in here and not leading your cabin like you should be.” She said, pointing at the Stoll brothers.

The brothers gained identical smirks. “ And we want to know why you’re bossing us around. I can think of a lot of things wrong about this situation.” The older one said.

“ And I can think of a lot of things wrong about you… three!”

“ Hey! Why are you dragging me into this?!” Griffin yelped, backing away from the daughter of Apollo.

“ Because this is all your fault!” Andi was, by this time, quite red in the face. The Stolls, though snickering at their younger brother’s bad luck, decided to stay out of the argument. That did not, however, mean they were going to stay away from their own cabin.

“ How can it be me fault!?”

“ Only you would do something like that. Why, in the name of Olympus, would you steal my kunai knives and then prank my cabin on the same day?! Are you looking to get yourself killed?!”

“ Is that concern I hear in Prince’s voice, Travis?” Connor asked from the sidelines.

“ I don’t know, brother, but it sure is entertaining.” Travis replied.

“ You stay out of this!” Griffin and Andi both roared back at them, though Griffin’s face was red with embarrassment and Andi’s face was now livid.

Needless to say, the older boys did. After a few more minutes of arguing between the son of Hermes and daughter of Apollo, Andi finally landed a punch right over Griffin’s left eye. The force sent him sprawling on the floor and he was instantly given a black eye. It took him another minute just to sit up, and even then his head was still spinning.

“ Maybe you should be the one to… no. No, just forget it.” Andi growled, turning her back to the injured boy.

“ What? Don’t trust me to clean up my mess?” Griffin asked, his voice guarded.

“ As a matter of fact, I don’t… at all.” And with that, she was gone.

Not even five minutes later, Will had found Andi literally banging her head against a wall. It wasn’t that her anger had finally gotten to the extreme levels thanks to what had gone down with Griffin. It was because her mother’s favourite song was driving her _insane_. And the only way to stop herself from singing it aloud, apparently, was to bash her head against a wall. Will had to drag her into the Apollo cabin just to get her to stop with the bashing.

Unfortunately, while Will was still trying to get his little sister to explain to him what was going on that day, Andi’s ears picked up on the sound of arguing. Percy had obviously done something to upset Annabeth because she was giving him the longest lecture about it that Andi had ever heard in her life. And she had heard some pretty long lectures. In fact, just the thought of lectures made her think about her grandmother and that in turn made her reach for her pillow and scream a number of things into it while Will sat next to her, not knowing what to do.

“ Annabeth, please!” Percy’s muffled voice came from the other side of the cabin door.

But something told Will, at least, that Annabeth wasn’t going to listen. True enough, it quickly became known that Percy and Annabeth had had another one of their lover’s spats. And, of course, headaches had begun sprouting all over the place at that news. Annabeth did not talk to Percy for the rest of the week because of whatever it was they had been arguing about.

It took another five minutes just for Will to get Andi out of the cabin and up to the infirmary. He had a nagging feeling that his sister wasn’t going to be able to do much once there, though, so he made a mental note to ease her through helping Jason in sorting out and ordering the various medical supplies. For someone with autism, Jason was pretty calm and that seemed to rub off on those around him. It may have even done her some good to spend some time away from the rest of the campers. But neither he nor Andi expected to see Nico di Angelo curled up in the shadows against the Artemis cabin and with pen and paper in his lap.

It was a known secret around camp that the boy had a crush for Thalia and that he was practically praying that she give up her position as a hunter so that he could try and work up the courage to ask her out. It was common in the Aphrodite cabin, too… when Piper wasn’t around, of course. But, alas, Thalia herself had said that she wouldn’t give up her position for anything. Perhaps it was because of Luke, that she did this. No one knew. All Andi knew was that the fleeting scene had somehow urged her mother’s favourite song to keep tormenting her.

“ Will. Get me out of here.” She pleaded, wishing for darkness.

“ We’re going, don’t worry.” Will replied, humming a different tune into her ear to try and help his sister forget the song at least for that day.

Unfortunately, even in the infirmary there was something there to keep the song fresh in her mind. By this time, Andi was seriously beginning to wonder how this had all started. And she was practically praying to her father for the terror to end. But even the quick glance around the infirmary as she went to the storage room where Jason had already begun to work had triggered something. And when she was in the storage room, she could do nothing except overhear everything that was happening in the main area of the infirmary. She was sure she was going to go insane if the song kept playing in her head.

Not long after Andi and Jason had had a ‘calming session’ (the girl was about to start hitting herself in the head again to try and eradicate the song from her mind), Chris Rodriguez was heard coming in to the infirmary. And judging by the fact that there was more than one person walking into the place, Andi was almost sure that someone had had to help him get there. It only remained a mystery (or a semi-mystery considering she already had a guess in mind) as to who it was that had beaten him up pretty badly.

“ What did you do this time, Chris?” Andi heard Austin ask.

“ I offered to be Clarisse’s training partner.”

“ And, let me guess. She didn’t hold back?”

“ When does she ever hold back?”

“ Good point.”

“ With the way those two were fighting, you’d swear that they were enemies with a score to settle instead of lovers.” The guy who brought Chris in, Emmett Townsend, grumbled. “ I’m just surprised that there aren’t any broken bones. They were going at it pretty hard.”

“ Hard and fast. That’s how we roll, Emmett. You should know that, by now.” Chris said.

Unfortunately, that sent Andi to scream out in frustration as the terror of the song returned to her mind. Jason had managed to calm her mind earlier, but knowing that Clarisse had sent her own boyfriend to the infirmary only sparked the terror again. Now it was taking all of Jason’s will power to calm himself and his half-sister down. He wasn’t having much luck considering the young daughter of Apollo was crouched down in a foetal position, trying desperately to get the song out of her head. It made him realise just how he reacted to certain things at times.

“ Andi?” Austin called from the main part of the infirmary, confusion and worry for his sister clear in his voice.

After calling for help from Richard (who was in the next room) and a lot of ointment and bandages, Austin left his brother to tend to the injured son of Hermes and went to check on his sister. What he found when he got there unsettled him. Jason was looking trapped and uncomfortable with the situation, but never before had he seen Andi cry… even though she had been at camp at least as long as he had. And never before had he seen one of her ‘song-days’ (as everyone called them) get this bad.

“ Andi? What’s wrong?” He asked gently, not realising that his words and tone of voice were what caused a fresh pounding of the song and a fresh batch of tears with it.

“ I… I can’t stay here, Austin. I need… I need quiet.” Andi sobbed.

“ I tried.” Jason said, sounding confused and worried.

“ I know, buddy. I know. You just keep doing what you’re doing and I’ll take Andi back to the cabin. Okay?” Austin said.

“ Okay.”

With that, Austin helped Andi to her feet and led her out of the infirmary. Richard gave her a curious look as they passed, but Austin merely gave him the order to let Will know that Andi was going back to the cabin. She was rubbing furiously at her eyes to try and hide her tears all the way. And, of course, that gained unwanted attention. But what no one knew was that Andi’s current predicament was the first thing that actually followed the song that was playing in her head. She prayed that the darkness and quiet of her cabin did something to help keep the song and the memories out of her mind.

* * *

Andi must have cried herself to sleep when she got back to the cabin with Austin because when she opened her eyes, Kayla was kneeling next to her bunk and gently shaking her shoulder to try and wake her. It was only then, as she tried to rub the sleep from her eyes, that she noticed the cabin had been cleaned of any prank material that Griffin Lowe had used earlier. That and Kayla was the only person in the cabin beside herself.

“ Where is…?” She began to say before she was interrupted by a yawn.

“ We tried waking you up for dinner, but you wouldn’t budge. We’re all heading down to the amphitheatre.” Kayla replied.

“ It’s after… Holy Sun, I’ve got clean up duty with Pollux.”

“ Chiron’s given you tonight as an exception. Come on, we’ve got a sing-a-long tonight.” Her sister was almost at the door when she remembered something. “ Oh, and you may want to thank both Griffin and Pollux later.”

“ Why?”

“ Griffin cleaned this place up for us while we were all in the infirmary. And it was Pollux who convinced Chiron to give you the night off.”

“ Right.”

“ Come on. You’re wanted in the amphitheatre.”

“ Wanted?”

Without an answer, Kayla grabbed Andi’s wrist and dragged her out of the cabin. Not even while they were running towards the amphitheatre and the rest of the camp did Kayla break and tell her younger sister what was going on. And it was sparking Andi’s curiosity and anger. When they reached the amphitheatre, the younger daughter of Apollo found that everyone had been waiting for her.

She made not a single step as she realised that there was someone on the stage and that they didn’t come from the Apollo cabin. In fact the person had a black eye and a broken nose. Just looking at him made her extremely suspicious and she began to turn away in anger, thinking that he was about to prank her again. She got the surprise of her life when he noticed her and began to speak.

“ I know you hate me at the moment, Andi, and that you hate this song. But there is a truth in it that I believe you need. Because, believe it or not, people do need love. I admit, I did get help. But I guess you can’t keep a son of Hermes from making a bet and… well, I’ll leave you to guess what happened.” He said, his voice carrying through the quiet amphitheatre.

“ I am not staying here to listen to you sing, Lowe. I am not having a good day today and unless you wish to keep you tongue I suggest you leave me alone.” Andi growled back without turning around.

“ Just listen, Andi. This may just turn a few things around for you.” Kayla whispered.

“ Then cut out my tongue. You won’t have to deal with the sound of my voice. But I’ll still prank you. And I’ll still sing this song. It will be the last thing you ever hear from me, if you do. So just in case, I’m going to say this stuff first. I’m willing to give you everything you need, including love, as long as you’ll have me. Just… let me help you.” Griffin continued.

There was a few minutes of stunned silence (in which the Aphrodite cabin seemed to go all mushy at the news) before anything happened. Andi made a grab for Kayla to try and keep herself up as Griffin started to sing. For someone who was a son of Hermes, he didn’t have too bad a voice… even with a broken face.

_“ People need hope, people need loving…”_

Kayla had just enough time to catch Andi before her sister’s legs buckled underneath her. And, to be honest, she didn’t care that Andi was squeezing the life out of her hand, either. Just as long as she was okay… which, judging by her white face, clearly wasn’t what she was feeling.

Andi almost couldn’t breathe. Like Griffin had said, it was _the_ song that she hated the most. ABBA’s ‘People Need Love’. And thanks to her ABBA fan-girl mother, she had grown to detest the band and its songs. But this version of the song wasn’t fast like the original, but rather slow and meaningful, like the son of Hermes was actually saying the words instead of singing them.

It was at this time that Andi had realised that Griffin had stopped singing and allowed the background music take part of the song. She could only guess at how stupid the boy was feeling just singing in front of the entire camp let alone the female parts in the song. But still she remained where she stood, holding on to her older sister for support as his voice rang in her ears.

Just like her mother’s voice singing the song in her head, Griffin continued right on cue. However, and Andi had noticed this before as well, he left out most of the chorus verses.

_" You can have peace if you understand"_

As the son of Hermes finished the song, letting the rest of the Apollo sing one last chorus softly in an attempt to make her understand what he meant, Andi turned to Kayla. The lyrics that had been plaguing her all day had suddenly fitted in to place with the events of the day and it was all crushing her mind. Once more she needed to get away from the rest of the camp… but something was stopping her from leaving this time.

“ What do you think, Andi?” Kayla asked softly. “ This was all his idea… all his heart. Are you going to leave him to burn?”

“ I need some time to myself at the moment. Tell him to contact me in the morning for his answer.” Andi replied, trying to sort out her head and her heart at the same time.

Kayla gave a small nod. “ You know where the stash is. I’ll see you in the morning.”

With that, Andi turned her back on a confused and slightly heart-broken Griffin Lowe.

* * *

The next morning, Griffin went into his cabin to get away from the rest of his brothers and sisters. They hadn’t stopped teasing him about the night before. And he was beginning to get sick of it. That was when he noticed the letter on his pillow. Cautiously (considering he was in the Hermes Cabin) he opened the letter.

_Dear Griffin Lowe,_

_Thank you for the performance last night. I really did enjoy it. It also opened my eyes. And for that I’d like to thank you again. I’m sorry I didn’t stay until the complete end of the song, but I did hear most of it… or rather, most of you. My mother’s voice sung me to sleep with the rest of the song. She also told me not to let you go. I know I should be telling you this face to face, but the ‘big and scary Andi Prince of Apollo Cabin’ is, believe it or not, a chicken when it comes to her heart. So, hopefully this answer was quick enough for you. I’m sure you’ll be able to find me to get a confirmation, if that’s what you really want. Just don’t go on a pranking spree because of this._

_From your new girlfriend,_

_Andi Prince._


	2. Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little tidbit, I made a small song just for this chapter, which I hope you will all like.

You know you’re having a bad day when:

  1. Your younger siblings gang up against you and steal _all_ of your clothes, leaving only a homemade and thus suspicious loin-cloth,
  2. You have to go to the showers – which are outside – in the loin-cloth just to get clean,
  3. Your older siblings gang up against you and swap the shampoo for hair removal, and
  4. When you’re halfway across the cabin green after your shower – in your loin-cloth and going bald –you realise what day it is.



That’s exactly what happened to Griffin Lowe, son of Hermes and one week boyfriend of Andi Prince. And the problem was that ever since he had basically asked the daughter of Apollo to be his girlfriend, the entire Hermes cabin had decided that it was their job to prank him because of it.

But that day… all you had to do to tick him off big time was just one tiny joke.

“ None of you had better touch my cactus or I’m feeding you to Mrs O’Leary!” Griffin roared uncharacteristically before proceeding to charge towards his cabin whilst still dressed in the loin-cloth.

Unfortunately for his siblings, piling up behind the door did nothing to stop Griffin from entering the cabin. Their pranked brother was that annoyed with them that he completely forgot about the door and, calling on his spear, drove his weapon through one of the front windows. Thankfully, no one was hurt. But onlookers could only watch in shock as the practically naked and clearly annoyed son of Hermes leapt into the cabin after his spear.

“ Like I said, touch that cactus and I’m feeding you to Mrs O’Leary.” The angry demigod growled, rising to his feet.

“ We weren’t going to do anything to your cactus.” Ryan Murik hurried to say as he and three other siblings stepped away from the cactus next to Griffin’s bed.

“ But I thought we were going to take it to the beach?” One of the younger daughters of Hermes questioned, clearly confused.

“ Taniah!” Numerous people groaned.

“ And what were you going to do at the beach, Taniah?” Griffin asked, trying to keep his anger in check.

“ We were just going to give it some sunlight. It’s been cooped up in the dark all this time and Miranda said that cactuses live in the desert.” Connor hurried to save the prank.

“ Exact words.” Travis added, just to prove his brother’s point.

“ Connor. Since when did you turn into a six year old girl by the name of Taniah?”

“ They were going to bury it in the water.” Taniah replied as if her older brothers and cabin leaders hadn’t spoken.

“ They?” Griffin asked the little girl.

“ Travis and Connor.”

A dark sparkle shone dangerously in Griffin’s eyes as he gripped the shaft of his spear tighter. Travis and Connor, realising that they were in trouble, turned to face each other as they slowly began sneaking to the front of the group and thus the door. Of course, Griffin had to notice their attempt at escape and jumped over the nearest bunk. Those who were at the door easily let him through for fear of their own safety.

“ Do you know where my clothes are, Taniah?” Griffin asked as gently as he could despite his obvious anger. He didn’t want to look at the girl in case he scared her.

“ They’re in a box under Ryan’s bed.” The girl replied as face-palms and groans filled the cabin yet again.

“ Thank you, Taniah.”

“ You’re welcome. Can I go have breakfast now?”

“ When I get Thorn back.”

“ Who’s Thorn?”

At the innocent question, Griffin’s anger seemed to melt instantly into pain and sadness. The dark look in his eyes gave way to his hidden tears and his throat tightened so hard he almost choked. He couldn’t even look at his siblings anymore; choosing instead to look at the floor. It was almost like he had just lost the hope to live.

Instantly, the others realised what they had done and, on the Stoll’s orders, began trying to fix their problem. Regardless of their reputation outside of the cabin, they were still family… and they did care about their family. Ryan even pulled the box of clothes from under his bed so that Griffin didn’t have to go searching for it in front of them (or rather, in front of the girls).

With a heavy sigh, Griffin finally answered. “ I’ll tell you about him some other time, when you’re older. I think the story will give you nightmares at the moment.”

“ But…” Taniah started.

“ I’ll see you at breakfast.”

With that, Griffin grabbed some clothes from the box and went to change, leaving the rest of his cabin to go to breakfast without him.

* * *

Unfortunately for Griffin, breakfast was as bad as the morning shower. Other campers (read: the Ares cabin) seemed to enjoy the looks of his baldness and welcomed the new opportunity to tease him about it. It was insults galore almost as soon as he walked in wearing proper winter clothes and a snug beanie hat that covered most of his ears. Some of the other campers stuck to snickers and whispers while a small few (those that apparently felt sorry for him) smiled sorrowfully at him.

“ Griffin? What happened?” Andi Prince called from the Apollo table as her boyfriend slumped past.

“ Siblings.” Was all Griffin muttered in reply.

After sacrificing most of his breakfast and returning to the Hermes table, he allowed the laughs from the prank to sail right past him as he barely ate what was left on his plate. Since discovering – or rather remembering – what day it was, he had lost his appetite for just about anything. Instead, he allowed his thoughts and memories to drift from the present and back into the past.

The first thing he heard was the soothing voice of a woman singing a love song. It was slow and haunting like the woman was singing about a lover lost to the tides of war and falling into despair over the discovery of his death. Only, as the song progressed, he remembered being woken up in the middle of the night when he was nearly five years old to the sound of his mother crying. In reality, the song was about a friend of his mother’s, Tony someone (Griffin mainly called him Uncle T), who had died from something else. In memory of her friend, his mother wrote the song.

‘ The Silver Stone’ was the last song his mother ever wrote.

_“ Closing my eyes to the shadows abroad,_

_I stand aside the shore._

_The daemons of pain and hate and misery_

_Shall haunt me forever more._

_To think of he, so warm at heart,_

_To be taken by another man._

_Alas my pain cannot compare_

_To the silver stone from that beast’s hand.”_

It took a while for him to realise that the dining pavilion had fallen silent, but when he did, Griffin almost cursed himself for singing out loud. Other than that one time in the amphitheatre where he basically asked Andi Prince to be his girlfriend, he usually kept his singing to himself. Because of that, he didn’t realise that he had been singing aloud until the background noise had fallen silent after only the first verse of his mother’s song.

As soon as he realised, however, he clamped his mouth shut and glared at every single person in the pavilion, daring them to say anything.

“ Welcome back to Camp Half-Blood, Baldhead Lowe.” Someone from the Ares table sneered.

That was the last straw. Tears prickling at his eyes, Griffin stood up and stormed out of the pavilion.

* * *

The climbing wall was Griffin’s next torment.

Ryan woke him after he had been found behind the Hermes cabin. Apparently, after finally getting past the apologising stage, Andi had ordered the Hermes cabin to go in search of him after practically interrogating Ryan about what was wrong with Griffin. The order had been given hours ago… and it was now after lunch. Griffin figured he had fallen asleep while listening to his mother’s CDs.

Of course, now that he was awake, that meant that he had to go back to normal camp schedules… and that did _not_ include moping around and trying to remember a lost past. Neither did it include sleeping behind your cabin.

Ryan dragged him to the climbing wall.

Why were they going to the climbing wall? Believe it or not, it wasn’t just for free time. There were climbing competitions on it with the winning cabin – in fact all participating cabins – gaining nothing except more experience on how to survive the climbing wall. Griffin, himself, was one of the Hermes cabin’s best climbers, though he never admitted it. He never told anyone, but he deemed himself a gryphon hunter.

Just as the two had gotten to the climbing wall, the rest of the Hermes cabin showed up, along with the other three cabins that were competing in that day’s challenge; Apollo, Hephaestus and Nemesis. If Griffin had to place a bet with Ryan, he would say that his biggest worry was Leo Valdez and his inability to be burnt by fire. However, not even the thought of a bet could enter his mind that day.

“ Griffin Lowe.” Andi called as she made her way up to her boyfriend. With surprising strength and speed, she grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled his face down to hers. “ What has been going on with you today?”

“ I thought Ryan told you.” He replied dully, freeing his shirt from Andi’s grip and straightening himself.

“ I want to hear it from you.”

Griffin looked around at the other demigods. The only two demigods that knew the complete story of his arrival to camp were gone, both lives taken during the Titan war. And both of them were Apollo campers. His own cabin knew most of what had happened that day, seven years ago when he was eight. But the other cabins – especially the Nemesis cabin – had no clue. And he wasn’t about to tell them any time soon.

“ Let’s just get this thing over and done with.” He grumbled instead, making sure not to catch Andi’s eye.

That said, he turned and disappeared into the swarm of Hermes campers. After a few minutes of arguing between Travis, Emelia and Tim (they were fighting over who would be the first climber… again), Griffin split from the Hermes cabin and made his way to the foot of the climbing wall. Behind him came numerous protests which he ignored.

Beside him, the Nemesis cabin leader, Anne-Marie something-or-other, turned to face him, a curious look on her face. Still ignoring everyone around him, Griffin said nothing. But he did notice her shrug her shoulders and turn back to the climbing wall, waiting for the other two competitors to claim their positions. In the end, a grumbling Leo Valdez from Hephaestus and a slightly scared brother of Andi’s (Austin maybe?) made their way to the front.

“ Okay, your goal here is simple.” A satyr known only as _Despotes_ called. He was the referee for every climbing wall competition. “ The first member of the team is to place their flag on top of the climbing wall before returning to solid ground. After that, each team member must race to the top of the wall, touch the flag and make their way back down again. The last person up the climbing wall…”

It was about this time that Griffin tuned the satyr’s words out. To be completely honest, he didn’t really care about what this guy was saying about the rules. Like any child of Hermes, he didn’t care much for rules. He just wanted the day to end… or at least the training exercise to be over so that he could go back to listening to his mother sing.

Before he knew it, he was the last one still standing at the starting position; _Despotes_ had already called ‘Go’ and the other three demigods had started to make their way up the climbing wall. Cursing his stupidity, Griffin grabbed the fireproof flag of Hermes and charged up the climbing wall with it clamped firmly in his teeth.

It was the best way if he was expected to use both his hands.

It was about half way up that his troubles began. With the wall constantly shaking and spitting rocks at him, it was hard for Griffin to get a proper hold and keep moving forward. Already lava had burnt one of his arms and he had been lucky enough that a rogue boulder had grazed instead of broken his other arm. His side was also hurting him after he was forced into a ledge by another boulder making its way down. But the main danger came from below him, not the climbing wall.

Below him, the other campers were cheering on their siblings. In fact, Griffin could clearly hear Travis and Connor arguing with Will Solace, Jake Mason and Nyssa about the meaning of cheating. All he could gather from the argument was that Leo was the cause. But, of course, Ryan had to realise that he was focussing on the crowd below and not on the climbing wall like he should have been.

“ Griffin! Ignore us and get the flag to the top! Keep climbing!” Ryan called up to him.

_“ Keep climbing.”_

Those words were almost as good as turning Griffin to stone as Medusa’s glare was. And he would never forget the first day he heard them or the one who had spoken them. As the words echoed in his head, he was drawn into darkness.

* * *

_“ Griffin Lowe, if you don’t shut up right now, we are both going to become bird food.” A teenage voice growled from below the dirty-blond haired son of Hermes._

_“ But I’m tired!” the boy groaned._

_“ No ‘buts’. Keep climbing. I have to get you past the boarder.”_

_The call of an eagle coming from above them made Griffin cringe in fear. The drum of the beast’s wings beating in the sky made his heart beat even harder than he thought possible. In a matter of seconds, a strong gust of wind rushed over the boy and he was ripped into the sky by sharp claws._

_Panic instantly washed over him, clouding his mind and blurring his vision. He wasn’t sure if it was the panic that was threatening to stop air from going into his lungs or it is was the beast’s claws. But he did know one thing. He needed help and fast._

_“ Thorn!” He yelled at the top of his lungs._

_His protector and friend responded with a quick blow of his pipes. In an instant, Griffin was thrown to the grown, drops of blood following him as the beast’s talons raked across his side. He landed with a thud against the earth and it wasn’t until a few seconds later that he remembered what was going on. He and Thorn were under attack. Fear and pain clear on his face, Griffin turned to face the creature he had been running from for the past week._

_The thing was, at least, the size of a large horse… well, it stood as tall as a horse. For hind legs, it had lion paws and a lion’s tail to complete the strange mix. Instead of horse legs (or lion legs), it had eagle legs. And, just like an eagle, it had wings, razor sharp talons and a razor sharp beak._

_The good thing; it was wrapped in vines and so had been forced to the ground. The bad thing; Thorn, a black haired and black furred satyr protector, was standing dangerously close._

_“ Thorn! Come on! You’ve tied it up! Let’s go!” Griffin called in an attempt to get his friend out of harm’s way._

_“ I need to stay here a little bit longer, Griffin.” Thorn replied._

_“ But? No, you’re coming with me!”_

_“ Don’t worry about me! I’ll be fine! Just run past the big pine tree on the hill and get help! Go now while the gryphon’s still trapped! Hurry!”_

_What happened next, Griffin would never forget. Right before his eyes, the gryphon broke the vines that held its beak shut and, quick as lightning, pecked at Thorn’s chest. It was something no eight year old should ever have to see._

_Tears streaming down his face, the boy turned and ran like his friend had told him to. Only, instead of running into camp like he should have, Griffin found himself running into a hospital room. There was only one bed in the room and it was occupied by a tall woman with golden blonde hair. It was the same colour hair that Griffin had been born with and that he had lost. The woman’s eyes were a sad kind of blue, but they seemed to light up when she saw him._

_“ Griffin, my baby.” She sighed in a raspy voice._

_“_ Dya _!” An almost six year old Griffin cried as he ran to his mother’s bedside and tried to hug her._

_“ Shh, it’s okay pumpkin. Everything’s going to be fine.”_

_In an attempt to calm her young golden blond haired son, the woman moved her hand to the edge of her bed and squeezed Griffin’s small hand tightly but gently. But even at that young age, Griffin knew it was a lie._

_“ I love you, Griffin.”_

_Again Griffin cried – if not harder than before – as the doctors came and took his mother away. The guy who brought him to see her before the operation had to hold him to make sure that he didn’t run after them. But there was one thing that Griffin had yet to learn (at that age); those four words were the last words his mother ever spoke… to him or anyone else._

_He still saw his mother after the operation, but never again would he be able to hear her. Two years later, he was taken from the burden of looking after her by Thorn. All the memories from that time (and before) flashed before him. But only the most recent remained after everything else finally calmed down._

_Andi Prince and how she looked when she stormed into his cabin the day he asked her to be his girlfriend._

_To be completely honest, the daughter of Apollo looked like a red-haired angel delivered by the Fates straight from Olympus rather than one of Hades’ secret agents like others seemed to think of her as. Yeah, she had a mean temper. But Griffin figured that was because of her past. In that sense, she reminded him of himself; someone changed from what they should have been by their past._

_As Andi approached him, demanding the return of her property, something seemed to change with the memory. Instead of punching him the face like she should have, the daughter of Apollo planted her hands on either side of his face and kissed him full on the lips. Even his dream-self had no idea what to do. They had_ never _shared a moment like that in real life, especially since they had only just started dating. But then something even stranger happened._

_“ Come back to me, Griffin.” Andi’s voice echoed soothingly around him as everything else went dark._

_That couldn’t have been Andi Prince. She never sounded that soft and loving unless she was singing. Maybe someone was impersonating her. If they were, Griffin was sure to hunt them down when he woke up… or before, he didn’t really care. Either way, their days were numbered._

_“ Now’s not the time to be sleeping on the job. You still have to answer my questions. So if you don’t wake up right now, I’ll convince Chiron to get a set of defibrillators just so I can wake you up with them!”_

_That threat definitely sounded like it had come from the true Andi Prince’s mouth. Not wanting the threat to become reality, Griffin obeyed._

* * *

Griffin opened his eyes to the sound of something being crushed between two slabs of rock. Silently, the son of Hermes prayed that whatever was being crushed wasn’t something (or someone) important. It took a few minutes for him to realise that he was lying in the infirmary and that his head felt both hot and sore. In an attempt to figure out why his head hurt, he raised his hand to it.

“ I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” A quiet voice stopped him.

“ Wha?” Griffin slurred, sitting up.

Standing at the end of his bed, a mortar and pestle working feverishly in her hands, was the very girl he had been dreaming of… only, the Andi Prince from his dreams didn’t have big, dark circles under her eyes like this Andi did. Something had happened… and Griffin wanted to know what.

“ You’re… eyes… tired.” He tried to get out.

“ Take it easy, Monkey Man.” The girl sighed with a small smile in his direction. After placing the mortar and pestle on the trolley beside her, she grabbed a glass of what looked like orange juice and handed it to the older boy. “ Have some of this. And keep still.”

Without objections, Griffin took the glass and sipped at the drink, knowing full well that it wasn’t orange juice he was drinking. Instantly, the taste of cornbread and cabbage stew fresh off an open fire filled his mouth. The last time he had truly had that meal was when he was eight and no one could make it like his mother. Before he could stop himself, a single tear was falling down his face.

“ Oh gods, I hope I’m not hurting you.” Andi’s worried voice returned Griffin’s memories back to the depths of his mind.

“ You care?” Was all he could say with his throat as tight as it was from the memories.

“ Yes, I care. Maybe not all the time, but I do care. Now what’s hurting?”

“ Now? My heart. There’s a reason why I try not to take nectar and ambrosia, you know. The memories are too close for my liking.”

“ What did it taste like?”

“ My mum’s _xaritsa_ with cabbage stew. She always made it when I was sick or hurt or when I just needed some loving. Simple, I know, but the way she made it, over an open fire under the stars or sky, well, you’d know you were home. The last time she made it for me was when I was eight. It was the night before I left with Thorn to come to camp. Now I’ll never get to have it again.”

Silence fell between the two. It was then that Griffin noticed that his head was no longer burning. Andi was standing by his head (quite possibly with the mortar in hand because it was no longer on the trolley) where it was obvious that she had just put some sort of gold paste on it. Whatever it was that was now on his head, it was cool and soothing.

But it was also during that silence that the son of Hermes got the feeling that he was going to be answering a lot of questions in the very, very near future. Some of which were going to be answered or else followed by awkward silence.

Sure enough, the first of the questions came and broke the silence. “ Bread? Does every meal you eat have to have bread with it?” It was clear that Andi was trying to steer clear of depressing answers.

“ It’s a Romani thing.”

“ Romani? I didn’t think you were from Romania.”

“ I’m not. And I’m not Romanian. I’m Romani and so was my mother and our ancestors.” Seeing that Andi still didn’t understand, Griffin added. “ I’m a gyspy. But don’t call me that. I don’t like it just like you don’t like your true name.”

That was how the questions started. It wasn’t even a proper game of 20 questions. It was more like an interrogation crossed with a language lesson. By the end of it, Andi knew a lot more about Griffin than most of the people in camp did – including some of the language that he had grown up around. And Griffin, well he learnt a few things too.

For starters, the daughter of Apollo found out that if Griffin’s mother hadn’t had chosen Hermes to be the father of her only child, Griffin Lowe may have been her brother instead of her boyfriend. Then there was the story of how the boy had gotten the scar that travelled from the top left of his skull to the base of it which hit the metal plate inside.

After telling her about Thorn and what had happened to him that fateful day, Griffin also learnt that Andi’s ‘protectors’ were actually her grandmother’s pet Rottweilers that had hated her just like their owner did. But that was a random discovery which he instantly placed into the back of his mind after seeing the dark look in Andi’s eye.

The main thing he really took notice of were the fact that he had been unconscious for almost eight days and that his girlfriend had been by his side the majority of the time – save for a few times were one of her siblings would take over to give her some form of rest. That and the Demeter campers were looking after his cactus because she had decided it was best for the plant while he was unconscious.

* * *

Five days after he woke up, Griffin was allowed to leave the infirmary. After his head was healed of its lava burn, some sort of hair growth cream was lathered on twice a day courtesy of a trade made by Andi with the Aphrodite cabin. That’s why he had to stay in the infirmary (it was Andi’s orders and she was one of those people you just didn’t disobey). Now his darkening hair sported a military look.

But something felt different about the camp as he walked out of the Big House. It seemed empty and deserted… and that generally wasn’t a good thing. Next to that, he hadn’t seen Andi all day; it was her sister, Kayla, that had said he was fine to leave.

It was on his way to the cabin green that he noticed the teal Romani wagon with gold patterns in the distance. The wagon was strategically placed between the cabin area and the dining pavilion, almost as if dinner wasn’t in the pavilion that night. Curious about the new (and very non-Greek) addition to the camp, the son of Hermes went to explore. Turned out the teal wagon wasn’t the only one there.

Griffin counted eight wagons altogether and all of them were positioned around a massive fire. Next to that, each one of the wagons looked like they were designed to belong to certain cabins. What was even scarier than each cabin owning (and thus sharing) a wagon was that each wagon had a cooking fire of its own that was being attended by campers. Some of the campers he trusted with cooking on an open fire (like Leo Valdez), others he did not trust (like his brothers Travis and Connor Stoll). In fact some Ares and Nemesis campers were fighting over who was to tend to their fire over at the red and black wagon, and Travis and Katie Gardner were back to back with their arms crossed - obviously ignoring each other – while Andi kept slapping Connor’s hands away from the teal wagon’s fire.

That was when he noticed that Will Solace was bashing the teal wagon’s corn bread to death.

“ _Keck! So keres?”_ Realising he was speaking in Romani, he quickly switched languages as he hurried to the teal wagon in order to save the cornbread. He wasn’t aware of the fact that _everyone_ around the bon fire was watching him. “ What are you doing? You don’t bash the cornbread!”

The look Will gave him clearly said that he was both annoyed and offended. “ How do you do it, then?”

“ First you get rid of the one that’s not going to work. Then…”

Griffin quickly found that he had an audience as he worked from both memory and scratch at making a new batch of corn bread. When he asked Will how many they were feeding (and Will answered with ‘the entire camp’), he decided to get the son of Apollo’s help. He even explained how to make the cornbread the way his mother had done with him seven years ago. Unfortunately, that got the Ares cabin riled up and it took both him and Andi to get them to realise that he himself was only eight when his mother explained the recipe.

* * *

Night had fallen by the time Chiron had announced the meal over and the music begin. Andi had managed to seclude Griffin and herself away from the main camp and the usual songs being sung back at the bonfire. And, to be honest, Griffin wouldn’t have had it any other way; sitting at the Hermes table in the Dining pavilion while listening to the rest of the camp singing from afar.

“ Your cornbread tasted pretty good, you know.” The daughter of Apollo whispered, breaking the peaceful silence.

“ It wasn’t my mother’s.” Griffin sighed.

“ It didn’t have to be. But you were right about one thing. There was no need for Will to bash his first try like he was doing.”

“ Well, I remember my mother saying something about animal fat and-”

“ Griffin. Shut up.”

The son of Hermes obeyed and swapped his voice for a confused expression on his face. All he had ever wanted was to make his mother’s cornbread so that he could share it with Andi. And he didn’t really like the fact that he couldn’t share it or make it. But the look on the thirteen year old’s face clearly said that he was judging himself and she didn’t like that. With a sigh, Griffin turned away.

“ I was trying to do something nice for you, you know. You gave me love, so I’m giving it back. Stop ruining the niceness of this thing with your negative cornbread vibes.” Andi growled.

“ I’m sorry. I really did like what you did with the wagons and getting everyone together the way you did. I don’t know how you managed it – especially having Katie Gardner and Travis Stoll at the same wagon – but, Hades, did you pull it off.”

Griffin thought he saw a blush creep over Andi’s face. Before he could stop himself, a small smile lit both his eyes and his lips.

“ I had help.” The girl replied quietly.

“ I can imagine. And you did great.”

There was a few minutes of silence, in which Griffin chose to sneak in a kiss on Andi’s hand, before two heads looked up to the stars above them. Finally, the silence was broken once more. This time it was Griffin.

“ You know, my mum had a saying. ‘Life may be friend and foe, but if you meet it with friends at your side, you will always know your family’. I never knew what she meant until tonight.” The boy admitted.

“ And what did she mean?” The girl asked, urging him to continue.

“ Everyone here in this camp is my family just as much as they are my friends and enemies. This camp is my home. It took me seven years to realise that. And you… you are the most important friend of all.”

And that was when Griffin’s dream became reality. The two shared their first, proper kiss. And no one was watching except maybe Artemis as she rode her moon chariot across the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought I'd put up a bit of a dictionary note as well. This is in the Romani language.
> 
> Dya = Mother  
> Xaritsa = Fried cornbread  
> Keck! So keres? = No! What are you doing?


End file.
